1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image information display processing apparatus for executing a display process for a plurality of pieces of image information obtained by being captured with the elapse of time, for example, with a capsule endoscope that autonomously or heteronomously moves within a body to be examined.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a so-called swallow-type capsule endoscope has been made its debut in an endoscope field as disclosed, for example, by US Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0177779A1.
The capsule endoscope has an image capturing function and a wireless communication function. The capsule endoscope sequentially captures the images of organs such as the stomach, the small intestine, etc., and wirelessly transmits information about the sequentially captured images (electronic data representing images) during an observation period from when it is swallowed from the mouth of a patient in order to observe or examine the organs until when it is naturally excreted from the body.
The wirelessly transmitted image information in this way is received by a receiver that is provided outside the body of the patient, stored in a predetermined memory, and read and displayed on a display unit as occasion demands, whereby the image information becomes available for a diagnosis, etc. made by a doctor as disclosed, for example, by Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2005-218584.
However, for such a capsule endoscope, the period from when it is swallowed from the mouth of a patient until when it is naturally excreted is an observation period or an examination period unlike a normal endoscope.
Case data shot with the capsule endoscope during this period is composed of approximately 60,000 images as materials shot for the maximum of approximately eight hours, and the number of pieces of image information (case data) is vast.
In addition, information about images shot with the capsule endoscope in the past include image information of many patients, and also information about images shot on different examination dates even for the same patient, and are stored in a database.